Water Ionizer Filtration

[Onyx2]

Hi guys, (I hope I am in the right place here..)

I am currently using tap water for my reef, and have constantly been fighting hair algae. I was wondering if I could use my water ionizer filter to get better water.

I would only use the filter, and not the ionization part. It says on the box that it filters to 0.01 Microns.

I only have a 20 gallon tank so I do not need much water.

I can't really afford any new system of filtration right now, so I thought I'd ask you guys.


Thanks!
JC

 

[nemofish2217]

im not really sure how much you would be able to spend, but you can find RO/DI units on ebay for about 100.00 shipped.... that would be the best route....otherwise, i would see if your LFS has RO water...as they should not charge too much to sell it to you....

 

[tankfly]

My recommendation is to get one (or 2) of these. I have used these for years and they work great for a small tank. No waste water. It is best to use 2 in series, then you can run water through faster. right now I have 2 in series followed by a third cartridge that has only mixed bed DI resin. I get 0 TDS water and one gallon in about 30 minutes.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4484&N=2004+113773

 

[Onyx2]

Thanks for all the quick replys! Much appreciated.

What is TDS, and how do you test TDS? Could that be tested at my LFS?

(I would do a search but I haven't been able to get in all week)

 

[Onyx2]

tankfly, I will probably get one of those, how many gallons can one filter do?

Seems like my LFS sells them, http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22577;category_id=1755;pcid1=;pcid2=

 

[tankfly]

# of gallons depends on your feedwater purity. TDS stands for total dissolved solids. My tap water reads around 24 ppm. Water out of the purifier reads 0. I just got a TDS meter recently from www.reefgeek.com. I have used the filters for a long time and would replace when the color change got close to the top. Now though I can continue to use it as long as the TDS is 0. I estimate I got about 75 gal. from a cartridge. Now that I use 3 in series I should get much more.